Saga Arab/Saracen/Moors Warband

 This was a SAGA warband that I picked up in November 2024 on the Facebook Marketplace. I have been meaning to rebase some of my own DBX based Saracens to provide greater flexibility, due to the revisions between the older Cross and Crescent and the more recent Age of Crusades supplements. Based upon the troops mustered this warband looks like it was for the earlier supplement. I just need to paint up or rebase some more cavalry figures.  The figures themselves are a mix of Victrix and Gripping Beast hard plastic miniatures.

My Tabletop Limits

 I have set up my tabletop in the anticipation of having a game over the holidays. My table is slightly only 31 inches wide, and almost 5 feet long (59 inches). It looks like I will be able to get some 15mm troops into action, but 25mm large scale affairs might be a thing of the past. Not that I have had too many in this city.   

15mm Mike's Models carrying out exercises

25mm Bombard

 The final project I had in mind to complete on last weekend's Paint and Chat was this bombard and crew from Black Tree Design. It was given to me but a fellow gamer at the Club two months ago. It fits in with my Scots for SAGA and that is where it shall be stored. 

HYW1019 - Bombard and Crew

Objective Markers - The Barons' War

 Last Sunday afternoon during my Paint and Chat, another project I wanted to complete was this set of Objective Markers from Footsore Miniatures and Games. They are also useful as objectives when playing SAGA.

 Objective Markers - The Barons' War (SKU: WHV022+WHV023)
My Roman Auxiliary man puts everything into scale.

15mm Large Pavilion tents

 A couple of 15mm tents by Baueda. Now I have to dig out some 15mm figures to populate the base. Nothing too fancy here. One tent has basic flock grass layered on and the other just green paint on the MDF base.

15mm Polish Winged Hussars

 As part of my Paint and Chat, today my established goal was to complete some projects. I managed to complete one as the chatting seemed much more productive than the painting. Very little paint was used this afternoon, but glue was applied. I had to get 24 wings attached to the Hussars as well as get weapons in hands, and the men seated upon their mounts. Mission accomplished. Six three man calvary elements are ready for action.

15mm Polish Winged Hussars

28mm Scots Auld Alliance Warband SAGA

 This will be the majority of mounted figures in my next Age of Chivalry Scots Warband. It was the Victrix Miniatures Medieval Knights package which contains 18 x Knights and fully barded horses. Again I am blown away by the scope of figures available in hard plastic. I still lean towards the choice of  metal figures, however the pose and energy of these figures attracted me. I have three units of  Levy Archers by Claymore casting, but happy to have them joined relatively inexpensively by 2 units of mounted warriors.

The Night Watch - 28mm

 I purchased a box of Guards figures from the Wargames Atlantic Classic Fantasy line. I kept half the figures and swapped the other half with a buddy so I could obtain a sampling of the Villagers from the same line of figures. They still await treatment. As I stated before I am truly amazed by the breathe and range of hard plastic figures and am very happy with how this unit turned out. 

The Night Watch originally designed for Guards of Traitor's Toll.

Useful in both RPG fantasy game and they might even pass off  as a SAGA unit of Levied city Militia. I really enjoyed the geese that can serve as a burglar alarm throughout the ages.

Battlegroup Northag - Intro

 Today I got to revisit my early to mid 1980s wargaming, with an introduction to the Plastic Soldier Company Battlegroup NORTHAG. I was given a Soviet Recce force and thrown into the fray. In the 1980s the group I gamed with in Halifax mostly played the WRG Armored and Infantry Rules 1950 to 1985. Over the years we did occasional forays into TacForce, OMG and early in the new millennium Cold War Commander. However for the majority of the past 30 years my microarmor collection quietly sat on the storage shelf. I enjoyed today's revisit of the period. I am personally very happy that we didn't go through the hell of the Cold War becoming hot, but at the time it seemed that it was quite possible.

The powerplant objective at the far end of the table

The Crossroads that became today's focal point.

The T-64s of my Recce Platoon advance across the fields.

More Recce advance trough the countryside.

My luck runs out as the Germans start shooting down from the highrises. I lost 50% of my artillery spotters in an early firefight.

Turn 4 My Motorized infantry arrived last turn. First platoon advances trough the parkland towards the built up area. In the distance my tanks are engaged with the West German Recce

Today's game was a small meeting engagement between the Soviets and West Germans. The Bundeswehr gained control of two of the three objectives. The Soviets achieved only one. Both of the the T-64s were destroyed by infantry AT weapons on the 10-20 inch table on their frontal armor. Both times the German player (William) needed 10 or better on two dice to destroy the tanks. In both cases 11 was thrown. That plus a well placed artillery barrage, which destroyed three of my fire teams drove me above my BP limit. 

I have ordered a copy of the rules and intend to get my 6mm troops back onto the table 

WIP 15mm Polish Winged Hussars

 As part of my ongoing triage, I came across three zip locked baggies containing some 15mm Polish Winged Hussars. I am unsure of the brand but they have the look of Essex Miniatures. They were from the collection of Joseph Lappin, and have been sitting in a storage box for far too long. 

A jumbled mix of figures from a baggie has enough for 2 elements of Wing Hussars. I have 18 figures in total that I am working on.

I wonder if the figures were originally Joseph's to begin with. 

I have memories of sitting at one of the chess tables in the Halifax Public Gardens in the summer of 1976 or 1977 painting figures along side Charles Gallagher. Charles was a larger than life character, unofficial leader of our gaming circle in the mid 1970s and a mentor to many of us as we discovered the joys of miniature wargaming in the early 70s. I clearly recall him painting some Winged Hussars that day. Charles unfortunately passed away in an auto accident before the decade was over. It was to Joseph, that fell the task of dealing with Charles' estate. 

Montreal Saga Grande Mélee 2025

 Yesterday, our local group had our annual Saga tournament. Our local local pool was joined players  from both the Quebec City and Ottawa-Gatineau area. Two of our local players had to withdraw earlier in the week for personal reasons. In all we had seven active tables, 

The tournament was in three rounds with massacre points accumulated to provide a final point tally,  Each round for each table produced a winner and a loser. Twenty scoring points was available for each matched pair, based upon your overall difference in massacre points. I suffered a serious loss (19 to 1), a victory (14 to 6) and a final defeat (11 to 9).

As well as honour and bragging rights we were fighting for trophies this day.

Last place and best painted army voted by participants and staff

The top three point scorers, Gold, Silver and Bronze

The schedule for the day

9:00 Ouverture des portes

9:30 – 12:00 Ronde 1 (Terre sacrée/Sacred Ground)

I was defeated this round by the winner of both this and last year's tournament. I couldn't roll a save if my life depended upon it. I faced Karl and his Burgundians.

13:00 – 15:30 Ronde 2 (Brandissez vos bannières!Raise the Banners)

This photo was taken before we had completed our initial setup. Alex had only placed his Warlord and 3 points of his Free Companies. I as second player finished my setup. Overall, the dice gods give and the dice gods take away. Alex had the same problem with his saving throws that I had suffered in my first game. My sole win of the day.

15:45 – 18:15 Ronde 3 (Le combat des chefs/Clash of Warlords)

The final round of the day is Clash of Warlords. Again this photo was taken before our deployment was completed. I had yet to place my Mounted Warriors. This was a very close game. Gavin with his Scots won with 22 massacre points versus the 20 points I accumulated again him. At end of the match I was still able to roll two Saga dice, while Gavin could manage three 

TARDIS? - SAGA - Objective Marker???

 Another possible idea for an  objective marker. The figure for scale. Is this the legendary blue box that travels through time and space? It might explain what has happened to some of my mail. As for the Doctor he might even be the real McCoy.

A tongue and cheek view of a TARDIS

TARDIS appears in

SAGA - Objective Markers

 These are some objective markers that I painted up for possible use at the Montreal Saga Grand Melee event being held this upcoming Saturday (Nov 22nd). Three of them are the set FMT4 Hidden Lairs which I purchase from North Star Military Figures. The fourth was part of Bob Murch's the Masters of Devil Reef. They are part of the Cthulhu 28s Line and was included with the Kickstarter campaign. It may be available on its own but I do not know if that is the case or not. A sample archer from Claymore Castings is included for scale.

FMT4 - Hidden Lairs

Cthulhu 28s Line - Statue 

SAGA - Levy Archers - Claymore Castings Completed

 This is the third unit of 12 levy archers from Claymore Castings that I completed. They are for use with both my Age of Chivalry Scots or various English factions. I used some Kraurtcover Scenics Meadows of Purity and Army Painter Battlefields Highland Tuft for the bases. I am very happy with the look.

WIP SAGA - Levy Archers - Claymore Castings

 This afternoon on my Discord Paint and Chat I put the push on to produce a third unit of Levy Archers. They will be needed for next weekend's SAGA Grand Melee here in Montreal. The figures are from Claymore Castings.

WIP SAGA Arthurian Warband

Last year I purchased an unpainted Arthurian warband second hand. However it came without any horses for the calvary. I had tried various solutions including some Persian plastic horses that I had stored away but nothing meant with my satisfaction. In the end since the figures originated with Gripping Beast I wrote to the source and they were willing to sell me the horses separately .During today's  Paint and Chat I initiated work on them.

As well this week I got another dozen trees based and ready for the tabletop.  The forest is complete.

Since taking this photo the bases were completed. Brown texture paint, two types of flocking and some long grass tuffs were added.

Gaelic Warband Chariots

 Today I received three completed Victrix Miniature Celtic Chariots. These figures upgun both my SAGA warband or Clash of Spears forces. A happy addition.

 

MTB05 - British Regular Army (French & Indian War) Part 2

Thursday night was a game night with our local club. Graham delivered the 2nd installment of the British forces to me for Muskets and Tomahawks, Six Highlanders and six American colonial militia figures. I asked that the Highlanders be painted as the 42nd Regiment with Blue facings. The unit was briefly deployed to Halifax in 1757. As always Graham did a superb job on the figures.

42th Regiment of Foot

Colonial Militia from Boston sitting fire to stores in Acadia

I added the comment about the Colonial Militia in recognition of how my family arrived in Nova Scotia. In 1758 Captain John Hinckley and his sons were part of the American colonial forces that marched from Annapolis Royal to the fortress of Louisbourg. They were part of the garrison who came to  demolish the great fortress while the troops of the regular army were redeployed to take part in the siege of Quebec. The expulsion of the Acadian had taken place in 1755. The remains of their settlements still doted the countryside. In 1759 a young John Hinckley (son of the Captain) was one of about 20 settlers who came up from Massachusetts to settle in what is now Truro, NS. The hard work of clearing the land having been achieved almost 150 years previously. 

My source is the History and genealogy of the Hingley Family in Nova Scotia by A. E. Marble published in 1966

GF9 - Small Autumn Wood

 Last November Tistaminis sponsored our Saga Tournament (SAGA Montreal Grand Melee).  Using the discount they offered the participants I purchased some Gale Force Nine products. Amount them were some much needed terrain. I assembled the Small Autumn Wood today to see how they looked.  Nine trees of various heights and colours to represent the autumn season.

Who is advancing through the woods? More about them tomorrow.

If an Artillery Barrage

falls in the woods does anyone hear it? The last couple of evening I've just been touching up some simple terrain pieces. A dozen trees, basing them for ease of transport and stability on the gaming table. Plus a rock face to serve as for a difficult terrain piece. I have no idea where these pieces originated but they've been in storage a few years. Now that I am actually playing again I had to dig them out. Hopefully this weekend I will find my river.

Smoke and flame in the mix.

Gaelic Forces Arrived

The last eight days have been non-productive as far as gaming has been concerned. The only thing that was accomplished was the addition to a Gaelic force that I saw for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Last year when I was out east (Halifax)) I ordered a copy of the  Infamy Infamy rules from Too Fat Lardies.  

When I saw these figures on Facebook marketplace I immediately thought they would be a perfect match against my Romans for Infamy Infamy as well as a solid start for an Art de la Guerre Gaelic army. The Montreal club is planning a Too Fat Lardies day in January and I now hope to make a contribution with an  Infamy Infamy game. 

All photos taken by the seller.

The total was 88 figures based as12 elements of six various Gaelic warriors on 60mm bases, and another 16 slingers based as 4 figures per 60mm circular skirmish elements. I believe the seller told me the figures were by 1st Corps. The only thing I contributed to this army was the addition of Magnetic base bottoms from Litko Game Accessories.

 

25mm Roman Marines

 This was a second unit from the army of Jef Lauzon. My guess that the source of these figures was originally Minifigs. They have been rebased for any number of skirmish style gaming, such as SAGA, Clash of Spears or Dragon Rampant. In their previous life they were ready for action in any number of WRG/DBX formats. The figures soaked for a week in water to facilitate the debasing process. After a week, they just lifted off their previous base. I did a touch up on the shield as the white trim was flacking off.

Flacking white trim on the shields.

Above two photos showing the effects of the restoration program.